NAF: "Our own plays [...] just cost us in the end"

Although Liquid's run at the BLAST.tv Paris Major has come to a sad end, the team still performed well across the tournament and made it to the quarterfinals, something North America hasn't done since 2019. Dust2.us' Ryan Friend had the opportunity to speak with Keith "NAF" Markovic at the end of the day to go over some key thoughts about the match and what the team will be doing next.

On both maps in the series today, Liquid opened up with 4-11 first halves, only making the maps closer affairs after swapping sides. With both of these slow starts to the maps, it was a hard task for the team to come back and be able to contend for the map. This was a stark difference from the Legends Stage where Liquid came into maps fired up, with a stand-out performance versus NAVI on Inferno with a 14-1 opening half.

We asked NAF what went wrong here and why it was such a different Liquid that we were seeing, compared to just a few days ago.

Yeah, I don't know. We definitely didn't show the same pace that we showed when we came back in the Challenger Stage. I think maybe I started a little slow at times there in that game and it was, I don't know... I think as a team we just felt that moment where, it somewhat felt like it’s the first game again and it was against Apeks. I feel like at times we felt a little uncomfortable. We didn't feel confident in some moments, and I think that kind of bit us in the ass and all that. And I think Apeks were just playing as hard, you know, every round and they're feeling in, they're feeling comfortable.

And I think we just missed out on some rounds to break them. I think I know there's a lot of close rounds and where they were able to come out top on most of them. I think they played great, and we played a little bit underwhelming to our own standards than we showed in the group stage. But regardless, you know, they're the better team. They played better. So, you know, props to them.

Apeks showed a lot of early-round aggression that Liquid didn't seem to know how to adjust for in the beginning. For example, on Ancient towards construction by cave, often Apeks would aggress towards Liquid's CT-side hold and take down two players almost for free. We asked whether NAF felt those aggressions from Apeks were something that they didn't know how to deal with.

I think we had good prep and a good understanding. It was just our own plays that obviously just cost us in the end, and it's maybe a lack of focus in some moments. You know, obviously I made some mistakes in the series I believe, that I can remember. It was mainly more of us kind of just not being as focused as we should be and they were hungry; they seemed a lot more hungry than we were in the game and ultimately, they win when they feel that way.

Regardless of going out in the quarterfinals or winning the Major, this has still been an achievement for Liquid. Having gone from 0-2 in the Challengers Stage, almost being eliminated by Fluxo, to making it the stage here in the Accor Arena. The team should be proud looking back this Major and the recovery they were able to make, however, NAF is disappointed in the way they went out.

Obviously, I think we should be super proud that we were still able to make it to the playoffs. You know, I think when we were down 0-2, I don't think a lot of us were imagining that. So obviously that feels good. But you know, unfortunately, when you look at this Major, I feel like we should have made it to the finals. But unfortunately, you know, we just kind of went out in like a plastic liquid fashion.

With the Major now over for Liquid, and the off season almost here, just IEM Dallas left for the team, we wanted to know what the team will be taking away from the event and what their future after the break will be, potentially with CS2 coming into play.

I'm not sure when [CS2’s] going to come out or what's going to happen, but now that the Major is done, I think a lot of us are just going to chill. We have Dallas within two weeks, so I think a little bit of us are going to try to find time to reset, mentally and all that, and just see where it goes from there.

Liqud's next and final tournament before the player break is IEM Dallas. The team will be starting out in Group B, facing Astralis at 03:45PM on May 29th.